The cold is on its way, which has many Lawton, OK homeowners taking a closer look at their furnaces. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to stumble upon issues once you take out the microscope, and sometimes, you don’t even need to do that to know that there’s a problem at hand.
Case in point: your furnace is making all sorts of strange sounds. Some people simply attribute this to age and normal wear and tear, but the bottom line is that it’s essential to identify exactly what the problem is so that you can determine whether or not a repair is necessary.
Is your furnace making weird, unsettling noises? Here’s a closer look into what may be happening.
Banging/Popping Noises
Let’s say you’ve just turned your furnace on for the first time this year, and all of a sudden, loud banging and popping noises start coming out of the unit. The problem could very well be due to having dirty furnace burners, which delays the burners from igniting and causes an excess buildup of gas.
The loud bang you hear is what happens when the burners finally do light. This noise could also be the result of expansion and contraction of your air ducts, which typically means that they’re either undersized or too flimsy to properly condition your home.
Scraping Noises
Scraping noises are never pleasant, regardless of why, when or where they’re occurring. If you’re getting that “nails on a chalkboard” sound out of your furnace, you can be certain that something is wrong.
It could be a result of the blower wheel either being broken or having come loose, both of which require immediate attention so as to not damage the furnace further. In a worst-case scenario, scraping noises can result from a broken motor mount, which causes the blower assembly to drop.
Squealing Noises
High-pitched whines coming out of a furnace need to be addressed as soon as they’re discovered. They can be the result of a frayed or loose blower belt, bearings that require oiling or even a blower motor that has malfunctioned. In all three scenarios, maintenance is required to get your furnace back to working order. Alternatively, there may be a blockage in the duct, a crushed duct, or undersized ductwork that is restricting airflow causing the blower to race similar to how a vacuum cleaner motor does when you cover the hose.
“Oil-Canning” Noises
You may experience loud booming noises from ducts located in attics, crawl spaces, and inside walls. It may sound like someone banging a metal trashcan with a hammer, or the sound of metal popping similar to Dorothy applying oil with the oil can to Tin Man in ‘The Wizard of Oz’. There are several reasons this may occur. First, the ducts may expand and contract when the furnace runs and shuts off. Second, the ducts may be undersized and the airflow on startup may force the ducts to pop or flex outward and they may pop or flex inward with the reduction of airflow on shutdown. Lastly, the duct may not be installed properly or thin low gauge metal may have been used to cut corners when the ducts were installed.
If your furnace has been overly noisy, there’s something wrong. Whether you’re in need of heating maintenance, high-performance insulation, new windows and doors, plumbing or any other of our many services, the team at Pippin Brothers is here to help get your home prepared for winter.